Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Big, big bourbon influence right up front. Tons of bourbon, vanilla and oak in the nose and taste of the beer. It's very chewy with a thick body and creamy mouthfeel. Tons of dark fruit apparent just under the surface. Awesome beer, but should improve with time. (262 characters)

375 ml bottle into snifter. Received in trade, but I think it was purchased for around $13.

L- Pours an opaque black with a one-finger tan head that sticks around for a short while. No light shines through this one.

S- Wow. Blown away by the aroma that I'm getting. Vanilla, nuttiness, chocolate, booze, and caramel. I know this was brewed with walnuts, but it smells like a bourbon-chocolate-pecan pie.

T- Taste is more of the same, but some of the nuttiness is lost. Huge barrel notes of oak and vanilla complement a roasty background. The nuttiness tries to sneak in, but is dominated by the barrel. Very tasty.

O- This is the second bourbon barrel-aged stout that I've had from Jackie O's, and I'm equally as impressed as I was with the first. The huge barrel presence masks some of the beer's more subtle flavors, but it is certainly a treat. An incredibly enjoyable stout that I'd love to revisit with some age. (1,028 characters)

12.7 oz. bottle into a tulip. Pours a dark, cocoa brown and settles pitch black in the glass. An aggressive pour resulted in a 1 finger head of dense, syrupy, tan foam. Great aroma on this one. I have a cold coming on and I can still smell this thing from 2 feet away. Delicious cocoa, chocolate, roasty malt, sweet bourbon, vanilla..Just an awesome smell. Medium-heavy weight, and quite smooth on the mouthfeel. Right away on the taste I get vanilla, bourbon, chocolate, and bitter coffee. There's a more profound booziness as it sets in. As it warms on the palate, notes of walnuts, coconut, and maple syrup emerge. Finishes smooth with a slight alcohol bite, and leaves a boozy, coffee-like aftertaste behind.

This is undoubtedly a great beer. I'm on the fence as to how I really feel about it, though. I love a good imperial stout, and I love bourbon barrel aged imperial stouts. But this one is almost too bourbon-y for my liking. It has all the right characteristics to make it an outstanding beer regardless, but it's incredibly boozy for 10%. As much as I hate to say it, I prefer the regular version better, if only a by a little. (1,141 characters)

Summery: Loads of malt and nuttiness. Its super complex, also rather hot and boozy. A touch syrupy on the feel. Sticky like tar. The walnuts do shine. A real nice BA stout with a twist. Def worth a grab. No great value though at $12 per 12.75oz~ (449 characters)

I feel that this beer gets little credit. Dark and sumptuous, with an abundance of sweet bourbon barrel and a great mouthfeel. I had two bottles of this and they didn't make it a week. Very well done BA Stout. (209 characters)

Taste follows suit. Sweet up front. Brown sugar, molasses, VERY subtle bourbon. Then some deep roasted chocolate malts, and the nutty (Walnut) flavor from the base beer. Finish is bitter, but not overly so.

Body is very solid for a barrel aged beer. Average carbonation.

Overall, this is what I was looking for (but did't get) in the Rum Barrel version. It took and outstanding stout to world class. While I think that the base stout flavors are better in Dark App., this one is on par with Bourbon Barrel Black Maple for balance/integration of barrel qualities. A top 3 beer from a brewery that owns barrel aged beers in Ohio. (886 characters)

This is about as good as it gets for a Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout folks. I loved the Rum Barrel Aged Oil of Aphrodite but might like this better. I really need to drink these side by side. Hands down the best Barrel Aging Brewery in Ohio, maybe the country! (265 characters)

A very solid job here by Jackie O's good mouth feel solid balance of chocolate vanilla walnut Belgian malts candy syrup with a bit of hops for balance a beer I'd drink again if I could find more (195 characters)

This beer has been re-released in 375ml format recently. I can't speak for the old, staff only bottles but I can say this is definitely one of the better Aphrodite variants, behind only the Sherry barrel version.

This blows the rum barrel version off the map and the blend is fantastic. It's not overpowered by bourbon nor is it overly sweet like the Black Maple. It's near perfect.

This may be my favorite Jackie O's beer to date. Great beer. (449 characters)

I made another entry for this beer, but they flagged it as a duplicate beer even though it's not the STAFF beer. A damn shame. I even specified that in the notes. Now, this entry won't make any sense. None of the information reflects what was just released. I hope some one doesn't get ripped off by trading for this only to get the WRONG beer. Delicious beer. Everything I want in a stout. Great bourbon and nutty roasty taste. (436 characters)

This is the 2015 version. The other ratings do not reflect this years brew. It is fantastic all around. Full mouthfeel from the bourbon and walnuts. Sweetness that lingers throughout. It is simply amazing! (205 characters)

APPEARANCE: A ticker black pour yields a 1+ finger, medium looking, fizzy, tan head with good retention. Black body with medium levels of carbonation evident. Head slowly fades to a full wisp. A faint wisp remains until the end leaving touches of lacing down the glass. Decent color, but the head is a little too fizzy.

TASTE: This just isn't right. There's some nice bourbon, sweet cream and coconut initially, but then some sour cherry and oak come through at the swallow. The tartness is okay, but doubtfully intended. Bold and lingering finish of bourbon, cocoa powder, a touch of roasted grain and some tart, slightly sour woody flavors. Not expected for a bourbon barrel aged stout.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Watery on the palate, definitely not creamy enough, goes down oddly prickly and finishes somewhat sticky on the palate. Watery initially, yet prickly at the swallow with a bit of a burn. Some heat lingers and is slightly abrasive. Sub par for sure.

OVERALL: A relatively disappointing barrel treatment of an otherwise good imperial stout. Not sure if the tartness is the sign of a problem, but it certainly wasn't expected. The Rum version of this was solid, so I was hoping for a repeat in bourbon style here, which unfortunately didn't happen. The feel, which often tends to be watery in their stout beer, could use some work as well. Thanks again for the loot hotpipes. Always a pleasure! (1,670 characters)

M - Medium body with a carbonation on the lower side of medium. Mild tartness.

O - Mostly good, with a slight mixed bag for me. The aroma was absolutely outstanding. Flavors were quite good although the low level tartness knocked this down a bit and also affected the mouthfeel. Wonder if this could be the start of an infection. Bottle was still quite good, but question whether this will hold up much longer. (813 characters)

Poured from the bottle into a snifter glass at Smoke & Barrel DC for the bottle share. Thanks to jacewg for the bottle.

A very light tan collar is presented on the pour, and a simple classic dark walnut brown body. Not as dark as I expected, but pretty much textbook.

Nose is tannic dry nuts, but also really mushy smelling. Very odd and weird nose, almost like a paper-mache wet paste sensation. Some good mix of roast malts and barrel aging character hide behind. I wouldn't say it's awful.

Palate is just weird. A light sour sensation mixing in with the roast character gives a sense of almost acrid grain. Dominates on the palate with a very thin body, without much of barrel feel and flavors coming through.

Overall this is a bit of a disappointment for my first Jackie O brew. (786 characters)

Black color. Smallish dark tan colored head. Decent retention. Very little lacing. Aroma is okay. There is heavily roasted malts, coffee, and a slight bit of char, but then there is a slightly sour green apple quality as well. Taste is on the way out. Tart. Sour coffee. Roasted malts and molasses, but not at all sweet. Mouthfeel is full bodied, but the tartness dominates. This may have been a great beer at one point, but its not anymore. (441 characters)

Appearance - Inky like the base beer, but lacking the surface presence. A few stray bubbles and it still stains the glass.

Smell - Nutty! Coffee and walnuts. Some hints of barrel in the shape of Bourbon and oak. Nothing very mellowing about the barrel flavors. Still has an acidic aroma. Even more than the soured version of the base.

Taste - Very acidic, but not like an infection. Coffee flavor, maybe because of the acidity. Nuttiness is less intense, or maybe just harder to isolate. Chocolate and bitter malts. Acidic finish.

Mouthfeel - Nice viscosity, as with the base. Still too acidic for me. I don't know what causes it in this one though. Well carbonated.

Overall - Still acidic, not sour. Never a traditional stout from Jackie O's. I like the walnuts, but the stout flavors never really come out. (867 characters)

This is very similar to the rum barrel oil. Delicious, nutty and fairly sweet base beer, even more sweetness from the barrel aging; lots of vanilla and caramel and in this case a lot of butterscotch too. A tanginess from the barrel that isn't in the base beer--rum oil is like that too and I thought it was a product of the rum barrels, but apparently it's just how this beer interacts with barrels. Great beer, as good as if not better than bourbon dark apparition, not quite as magical as rum oil.

Appearance: The beer pours a black color with a finger of tan head. The head sticks around nicely.

Smell: Sweet roasted malt with some bourbon up front. I'm getting dark fruit with some chocolate and vanilla. More sweetness than roast.

Taste: More dark fruit and roast here than in the smell. Peppery bourbon notes along with some oak. I'm getting mild dark chocolate with caramel and vanilla. The finish is a bit hot with some malt sweetness.

Mouthfeel: The body is on the thick side of medium with very smooth carbonation and a dry finish.

Overall: I enjoyed the balance of sweet and bourbon. A great dessert beer. Happy I have more. (711 characters)